Hurricane Joaquin

While we keep the Central Bahamas, Bermuda, and everyone else affected by Hurricane Joaquin in our thoughts, we are happy to say that Small Hope Bay lodge and the rest of Andros Island has survived the storm without any major damage. Jeff gave everybody Friday and Saturday off to prepare for the storm, but the worst weather we got was fifteen mph winds and a few brief showers. So, we were able to spend our days off relaxing, enjoying some time with the family, or playing poker and eating Erin's delicious food in the lodge.
Now that the Hurricane Joaquin is continuing to head North, we have some more flat seas and another beautiful day in paradise.

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Laura's Delicious Brownies

With Small Hope being closed for annual renovations and maintenance the live-on staff have been taking turns getting creative and making delicious dinners for everyone to enjoy. One of our divemasters Laura has been honing her baking skills to the delight of all the staff who have been testing her cakes, cookies and most recently her brownies! Now we are sharing the recipe so you can enjoy them as well.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Bake Time : 30-35 minutes

Ingredients:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9×13-inch glass or light-colored baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cocoa powder together.

3. Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

4. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. You do not want to over-beat the batter here or the brownies will turn out more cake like. 

5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.

7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 4 days.

Frosting: 

1/2 cup butter, softened 
2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/3 cup half-and-half cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Cream the butter in a small bowl.
2. Blend in the cocoa powder (the amount desired for a light, medium or dark flavor), vanilla, confectioners sugar, alternately with the cream.
3. Beat with an electric mixer, until the desired texture is achieved.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

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A Season At Small Hope Bay

Another Season Come and Gone...

This year was filled with many great memories. We made new friends and reunited with old ones. We shared many laughs, many beers and many conch fritters! 

Some highlights from our 2011-2012 season

Jeffrey Birch being goofy over Christmas

Crab Fest 2012! 

We adopted another potcake named Izzy!

We created an artificial reef by sinking a plane! 

Ben finished the list...success!

This season at SHBL we were treated to not only one but two of John Rice's famous margarita parties. We enjoyed countless Black Monkey nights at the bar and even got to witness Ben aka 'Evil' become the first to complete every drink on the extensive Small Hope drink menu, not to mention the extras that were thrown in there just for fun! 




We went diving with sting rays and hammerheads, reef sharks and turtles. A pod of dolphins joined us at the Blue Hole and under the dock. We successfully sunk a plane and christened our second new dive site of the season. We watched our crazy divemasters play it up for the cameras on the day dives and dance in the beautiful bio luminescence on our nights dives. We bid farewell to two dear friends and fulfilled their wish of a burial at sea. Patrick Laing and Jim Spencer are missed and will forever be in our hearts. 

Petter, Sam and Laura with instructor Fede 

We went fishing, biking and kayaking. We swam in the blue holes and relaxed in the hammocks. We laughed at our crazy interns, who taught us how to "Bruk it Down" and what NOT to do when driving a golf cart on the dock! In turn they were taught how to rescue an unresponsive diver at the service during their Rescue Diver course, or how to conduct a correct dive briefing during their Divemaster course. 

Wedding party dancing the night away

Our spontaneous dance party was a highlight of the Spring and during the Summer we had one heck of a wedding reception! We battened down the hatches and rode out Tropical Storm Isaac, playing Backgammon and Jenga in the lounge as the rain poured down outside. When the storm cleared we finished out the summer with beautiful weather, spending days snorkeling or beach combing.




It was a great season finished in true Small Hope fashion with a wonderful and hilarious staff party. It was a year of friends, family, and fun and like every year at Small Hope Bay Lodge it gave us memories to last a lifetime. 

Watch this video and re-live some of our more memorable moments from the last year

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Easter at Small Hope Bay Lodge!

We celebrated another great Easter weekend here at Small Hope. There was a full house with friends and families of all ages. The kids played on the beach, made sand castles and of course - hunted for Easter eggs. The grown-ups went diving, fishing or just relaxed on the beach or in a hammock. And, like all holidays at Small Hope Bay Lodge, we celebrated with a HUGE feast. Renauldo outdid himself yet again with a spread of roast turkey, ham, tempura lobster, shrimp and more. After dinner guests had their choice of 26 desserts! It was a great day and we look forward to many more to come . . . 

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April is nearly over!!

It has been a busy couple of  months here at Small Hope, Spring Break  has been going for 2 months! 

We have meet some great new friends and had the chance to reconnect with old friends.

Easter has been and gone, and what fun we had......

Nicky, Renauldo, Sonny, Joe, Antonio, Kate and Denise

Sammy, Chuck and Drew

We had a lovely meal prepared by the Small Hope chefs! 

 It was a real treat to have some fresh Asparagus

and garden peas, 

 
                                                   
  

Michelle made some dinner rolls.

There was Honey Glazed Ham

 BBQ Spring Lamb

Some Dauphinoise potato

And of course there were some mouth watering desserts................

 Anyone hungry???

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Discover SCUBA Diving............

Have you ever wonder what it is like to breathe under water?


At Small Hope we want everyone to have the opportunity to experience SCUBA DIVING..

As part of our All Inclusive rates we offer every guest the chance to do a FREE discover scuba lesson.
A discover scuba lesson is a great way to try diving for the first time and see if you like it.

You will get to experience how to use scuba equipment in shallow water and it is an easy introduction for exploring the underwater world!

Lessons are set up as requested, whether there is 1 or 10 people interested! Pin It Now!

Return Guest.................

We recently had some returnee guest who has been coming to Small Hope for over twelve years. It was good planning on all party’s part that they got to meet up this year for a few days. To catch up at Small Hope were they all  first meet.

Lisa & Jim, who are both keen dives, enjoyed being back in the water with new and old dive masters. Jim also enjoy a few afternoons of bone fishing with Giles.

Giles, Paula and Alex arrive next. Alex has been an intern here the last two summers. Alex is a keen diver and this summer enjoy the diving while only having to intern for part of his summer. Giles is a mad keen fisherman who comes to Small Hope both for the diving and the bone fishing. Paula is a diver and also enjoys the relax atmosphere that is Small Hope.

Dan, Cynthia & Casey are all divers. Casey started coming here when she was just 3, she is now 13. Casey learnt to dive at Small Hope and also enjoys the chance to relax. Dan and Cynthia are both divers and take this opportunity to enjoy some diving and good conversation with other guest.

It was great to see all them together and reminisce about times gone by and how when coming back to Small Hope it is like returning home as everything is familiar and just as you let it.

Lisa, Jim Winchester KY, Giles, Paula, Alex United Kingdom, Dan, Cynthia & Casey San Francisco CA

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Mmmmm Fudge Cake

Cocoa fudge cake
Always  a favourite

1 2/3 cup flour
1 ½ cup sugar
2/3-cup cocoa
1 /2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ cup buttermilk
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate icing

Heat oven to 350 . Grease and flour rectangular pan 13*9*2, 2 round pans 8 or 9*1 ½, or 12-cup bundth(cake pan with hole in middle) cake pan. Beat all ingredients except frosting in large mixer bowl constantly, 30 seconds. Beat on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 3 minutes. Pour into pan(s). Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, rectangular 35-40 minutes, layers 30-35mins, Bundth(cake pan with hole in middle) cake 40-45 minutes. Cool layers or bundth cake 10 minutes, remove from pan. Cool completely. Ice rectangular or fill and ice layers with the icing. You may sprinkle with powdered sugar. Pin It Now!

Learning how to Cave Dive...........

In October Small Hope dive masters Joe and Antonio were lucky enough to go to Abaco and learn how to dive in caves. Here is an account of how the training went from dive master Joe

Cave Training Day 1
01/10/2010

OK Antonio and I arrived on Abaco Island Friday afternoon and spent the evening in the classroom looking through the manual and watching the slide show. We are doing 4 courses Cavern Diver, Intro to Cave, Apprentice Cave Diver and Full Cave Diver. Our instructor Brian Kakuk who runs Bahamas Underground has been exploring and surveying the caves of the Bahamas for 20 years.

We started today by getting all our equipment together and running through some of the drills for laying lines, low visibility and gas management issues in the yard where questions were easy to ask...

Trying on all the gear



Antonio



Joe










We then went down to Mermaid reef a shallow 10’ dive to practice what we had learnt in the yard and get used to the new equipment setup. We spent over an hour doing line drills, practising buoyancy and doing out of air situations.
After lunch we did our first cavern dive at Dan’s Cave which was spectacular...

Cave Training Day 2

02/10/2010

Today has been a busy day we have done 3 dives in 3 different caves all staying inside the cavern zone. The first was at Magic Blue Hole which is an enormous cone with the top cut off the pool is about 30’ across but just below the surface it opens out to about 100’ and it is DEEP.

Magic Blue Hole

For the next dive we went back to Dan’s Cave Which is a MASSIVE Cavern but it is silty so you have to be careful with buoyancy and fining.





Brian showing us Dan's Cave



Then we did Reel Breaker which is one of the ocean blue holes as our last cavern dive. This one was flowing so hard you had to drag yourself along the bottom to get in but the ride on the way out was fun and the amount of lobsters in the cavern was staggering.

Once we got back to the shop we tidied up and then took the test.

Cave Training Day 3

03/10/2010

WOW started Intro to cave today and did 2 mind blowing dives in Dan’s cave. We are allowed to go past the STOP sign now and into the dark. WOW Check out this video I found of Dan’s Cave they go much further than us... We got to about their 03:40 mark http://vimeo.com/897430

Cave Training Day 4
04/10/2010

OK so today we have finished off intro to cave with two amazing dives the first was at Dan’s cave and the second at Ralph’s cave.We PASSED the exam so we are starting Apprentice Cave tomorrow. Yeah!!
http://vimeo.com/10402471

Cave Training Day 5
05/10/2010

Now its all starting to come together we did 2 dives at Dan,s Cave today the first was 120’ for 75mins and the second was 74’ for 104mins. We are allowed to go deeper and stay longer now and do some more complex navigation which opens up much more of the cave. Today we went to the Good Lands and the Bad Lands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg_FIWUsd94&feature=player_embedded

Cave Training Day 6
06/10/2010

Two more dives out of the way today and we are done with apprentice cave. Tomorrow we are starting Full Cave which means that we will have to do more of the planning and navigation ourselves. Today we dived a new cave called Lost Reel it was darker and spookier than the others. There are the remains of crocodile skeletons and giant tortoise shells preserved in the oxygen free water it was a strange place. The second dive was back at Dan’s cave, here we did the second half of a circuit that we had set up the day before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iFBKxvcHq4&feature=player_embedded

Cave Training Day 7
07/10/2010

Full Cave started today and we were back at Dan’s Cave for 2 dives. Now we are doing more complex navigation with multiple jumps and we are going deeper in to the cave system.

Cave Training Day 8 LAST DIVES
08/10/2010

We have done our last two dives for the course today and all has gone well. We dived at Dan’s cave this morning and Ralph’s Cave after lunch, both dives were spectacular and I am going to miss not diving in caves every day.
We have still got to take the final exam but we are going to do it tomorrow which gives us time to study up It is also good to have a night off book work.
Tomorrow Brian is going to take us on a special dive which we are excited about it will be much longer and more challenging than the dives we did for the course but there will be no skills to do which will be nice...

Fangorn Forest

09/10/2010

Today we have gone deep into Dan’s cave to an area called Fangorn Forest. It is about 2000’ into the cave and you have to drop down to 150’ for a bit so it is a long dive with some long deco stops on the way out. The dive was 120mins long and there was a lot of swimming to get there and back but it was amazing

http://vimeo.com/3528068

Small Hope has two more cave certified dive masters. So a big congratulations to Joe and Antonio. Pin It Now!

SEX 'N' PAN

Sex 'N' Pan a favorite of everybody..................Now you can enjoy it at home and the memory of Small Hope..............

Sex in the Pan

Crust:1 ½ cups Graham Cracker crumbs
2 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp. Butter, melted

Filling:
8 ounce Cream cheese
2 tbsp milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 ½ cups whip topping*
2 packages instant chocolate pudding 4 serving size (or any flavor)
3 ½ cups milk

Method
Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Mix well and press into pan. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Cool completely. Blend cream cheese, milk, and sugar, until smooth. Whip up whip topping until of smooth consistency. Fold in half of the whip topping. Spread this mixture into crust. Mix the second milk with the pudding and blend until it thickens and of proper consistency. Spread evenly of cream cheese mixture. Spread remaining whip topping over pudding and put in fridge to set for 4 to 6 hours minimum. Garnish with grated chocolate or chocolate pieces.

*1 Large container of already prepared cool whip topping can be substituted and gives same result

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A Big Congratulations!

Congrats to our return visitor, Dena!
On Saturday, Dec. 18th she was a lucky winner in a promotion to mark the 5 millionth visitor to The Bahamas for the year 2010. Her name was entered with other visitors from around the Bahamas Islands.


Dena was given a voucher for Androsia and a Small Hope Bay Lodge voucher to go towards her stay with us.

Dena and her family spent their second visit with us and we look forward to the next! Pin It Now!

Androsia Testimonials from guest

ANDROSIA TESTIMONIALS FROM SMALL HOPE BAY LODGE GUESTS

Here at Small Hope we offer all guest the chance to experenice the Androsia Batik factory. Where you can have a lesson, a tour around the warehouse were all the Androsia Batik is made. We offer this tour 3 times a week in the afternoon.

Here are some coments from guest who have already experenice the Androsia tour:



Batik

 Laurie

“We went to Androsia because we thought it would be an easy way to pick up gifts. We only planned to spend 10 or 15 minutes in the boutique but ended up staying over a half hour! There are so many beautiful, colorful products to choose from. I would recommend this excursion to anyone!”

Elena Killgore

“I have been there before twice. The Killgore family (my family) brought 15 people with us this time. When I come back, I’m still going to use the little writing utensils and I hope they have the praying hands in the wax. I appreciate them doing this for me and my family and friends. I look forward to seeing the factory and the people next time I come. My experience has been wonderful every time I have come.”





Caitlin Killgore

“After three times of visiting the factory and store, the magic of creating my own cloth has not diminished in the least. Our creativity is unleashed by designing marine life and then choosing a color to have it dyed in. Also, the shopping gave me a chance to buy my own apparel to make me feel even more connected to the island.”

Kayla Combs

“The experience was unique and I would do it again. I learned the techniques of batiking and was intrigued by them. I hope I can do it again.”

Lynn, Faith, & Buddy Best

“We truly enjoyed our visit to the factory to learn the technique of batik. My daughter enjoyed learning and making her own creative piece of art. A wonderful group of people! We loved it!”





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Ellie & Aniela from Europe

We were lucky enough just recently to have a visit from Ellie who is from Switzerland and Ellie who is from Germany. They were very kind to do testimonial for us in German. 
They both enjoyed there time here at Small Hope where they enjoyed the diving,learning to dive for Ellie,the staff, the food and the large amount of things Small Hope had to offer like bonefishing,cycling and kayaking, also how it was a great place for relaxing and family's

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Small Hope Song

Val came to Small Hope with a song in her heart and her trusty guitar and she left us with a beautiful memento. After entertaining the guests with songs and poems at Earth Hour, she wrote this song about Small Hope and played it for Jeff Birch, whose father Dick founded the resort fifty years ago.

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Solo Beach Cruising

Recent guest, Michael from Spain, knows how to relax. He took two weeks at Small Hope Bay Lodge and spent his days sleeping in, sunning on the beach, snorkeling the Andros Barrier reef and biking all over the island.

Michael left here refreshed, rejuvenated, recharged and with plans of returning! Pin It Now!

Spontaneous Entertainment

The tradition of spontaneous entertainment continues in our 50th year here at Small Hope Bay Lodge. Georgia took many of the guests back in time by playing songs by Jimi Hendrix, the Who and other classic rockers. Here's a video of her musical stylings:


Our resident musician, Ashley, has left Small Hope Bay Lodge to pursue his music career in Nassau. We wish him all the best and look forward to seeing him become a big success! Pin It Now!

Fred Calhoun Remembers Small Hope Bay Lodge

Fred Calhoun, captain of the Easy Diver, filmmaker and author, has been coming to Small Hope Bay Lodge for its diving for 40 years. This is part one of his memoirs about what Small Hope was like in the beginning.

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SHBL - a perfect place for honeymoons and anniversaries

Wayne and Sheila first visited SHBL 31 years ago on their honeymoon, and returned to the Small Hope family to enjoy a week of snorkeling, diving, hammocking and going on a tour of the many eco trails we offer where they could enjoy bird-watching the many rare species that are native to our island.
Wayne and Sheila also met up with Kevin and Rachel who were newlyweds here on their honeymoon. Kevin and Rachel learned to dive here together while doing our discovery scuba course and enjoyed days snorkeling around Goat Cay Island. Click here to hear about honeymooning at SHBL from the two couples.

“Small Hope – Large Hearts – Deep Dives – Renewed Energy. We first came to Small Hope 31 years ago on the second half of our honeymoon. We wanted the nightlife and excitement of Nassau and then wanted to dive and ‘unwind’ in a small resort away from the lights. We’ve been back to Small Hope several times since then and haven’t returned to Nassau, no desire to go back. Every time we return to Andros we ask about our first dive master, Abe, our hostess, Danby and...“the family”. Small Hope Bay Lodge is all about “the family”, because we became apart of the family, and that’s the way Dick Birch planned it. Diving is the central theme, as it should be, but people are the focus. Our desire to dive, hike, bike, kayak, explore, relax and share experiences with other guests always leaves us with something to do ‘the next time’, and there will always be a next time. Families always plan reunions.” - Wayne and Sheila Pin It Now!